KSC-2014-3237

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Apollo astronauts participate in a panel discussion held for employees in the KSC Training Auditorium at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. From left are Center Director Robert Cabana, Apollo 8 and Apollo 13 crew member Jim Lovell, Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin, Apollo 11 command module pilot Michael Collins, and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. Cabana and Bolden, both shuttle astronauts, asked the questions to which the panel members responded. The panel discussion followed a ceremony renaming the refurbished Operations and Checkout Building for Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first person to set foot on the moon. The building's high bay, the site for the ceremony, is being used to support the agency's new Orion spacecraft and is the same spaceport facility where the Apollo 11 command/service module and lunar module were prepped for the first lunar landing mission in 1969. Orion is designed to take humans farther than they’ve ever gone before, serving as the exploration vehicle that will carry astronauts to deep space and sustain the crew during travel to destinations such as an asteroid or Mars. The ceremony and panel discussion were part of NASA's 45th anniversary celebration of the Apollo 11 moon landing. As the world watched, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed in the moon's Sea of Tranquility on July 20, 1969, aboard the lunar module Eagle. Meanwhile, crewmate Michael Collins orbited above in the command module Columbia. For more, visit http://www.nasa.gov/press/2014/july/nasa-honors-historic-first-moon-landing-eyes-first-mars-mission. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett